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High court asked to uphold firing of Campbell employee
By Jeanne Starmack
Campbell
The city has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to stop the Mahoning County Common Pleas court from preventing it from firing an employee.
Donald Jackson, a water-plant operator who was hired in October by former mayor George Krinos, won a temporary restraining order from the court in July to keep the city from following its civil-service commission’s recommendation to fire him.
Post-hearing briefs were due in the case Aug. 10, and common pleas court Magistrate Timothy Welsh has them under consideration.
Meanwhile, the city has petitioned the higher court for a writ of prohibition to stop the lower court’s involvement.
When Jackson was hired, there was no civil-service eligibility list from which to choose a qualified candidate for the job.
Jackson was hired as a “provisional” employee, Krinos indicated in a letter, and still was required to take a civil-service test to be eligible for the post.
The civil-service commission sent a letter June 27 to current Mayor Bill VanSuch saying that Jackson was improperly hired. Jackson also failed a March 21 civil-service test, and he opted not to take a test for meter reader, even though he’d signed up for it, the letter says.
Civil-service commission member Tony Matash said the mayor and Lew Jackson, who is Donald Jackson’s father and was city administrator at the time, did not consult the commission on how to properly fill the position.
“We could have interviewed people and made recommendations to the mayor,” he said.
He also said Krinos did not ask the civil-service commission to conduct a test for the position.
“We would have given a test,” Matash said. He said VanSuch asked for a test after he became mayor in January, and that was the test given March 21.
Matash said the state did away with “provisional” employees, who had one year to prove they were capable of handling the job. The Ohio Revised Code says temporary employees can hold a civil-service position for 120 days.
Court documents say the city considers Jackson a probationary employee under a union contract, and his probation is up after one year. The city has the right to fire him during his probation, and the court should have no jurisdiction over the matter, it argues.
Jackson argued to the common pleas court that the civil-service test was improperly administered, so the city can’t use it as a basis for firing him.
He argued that the test should have been administered by a professional examiner, but it was not. He contends that violates the city’s home-rule charter.
Instead, a civil service commission member administered the test.
Mark Kolmacic, the city’s law director, said the city takes the position that civil-service commission members are professional examiners.
Kolmacic also said the city is under a time constraint because Jackson’s probation is up in October and it would be more difficult to fire him.
Eugene P. Nevada, lead counsel for the city, said the petition before the Supreme Court does not prevent the lower court from making a decision in the case.